Karin Sham Poo

Karin Elise Holmgrunn Sham Poo (born December 18, 1943 in Oslo) as Karin Holmgrunn (previous name Karin Løkhaug) served as General Manager, Marketing Division and Senior Vice President of the Christiania Bank in Oslo from 1982 to 1985 after holding several other managerial positions with the bank, which she joined in 1962. She also held managerial posts with Bergens Kreditbank and A/S Kjobmandsbanken in Oslo. She was recruited to UNICEF Headquarters in New York in 1985 as its Comptroller and became its Deputy Executive Director in 1987 a position she held until she retired at the end of 2004. Karin Sham Poo served as Interim Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflicy in 2005 at the Under Secretary General level. After retirement, she was UNICEF Special Envoy to the Caribbean until the end of 2010.

Ms Sham Poo has been active in numerous professional, civic and political organizations: member of the Board of Directors of the Norwegian American Chamber of Commerce and of NGO Sustainability in New York, member of the Foreign Policy Group based in Washington DC, the Women's International Forum and the Board of Trustees of the Norwegian Seamen's Church in New York.

Throughout her life, Ms Sham Poo has been an advocate for women’s rights. From 1991 - 1996, she was the chairperson of the United Nations Secretary General’s Steering Committee for the Improvement of the Status of Women in United Nations Secretariat.

Ms Sham Poo is a graduate of the Norwegian College of Banking with majors in economics, law and banking.

External links

• Item in Dagbladet (in Norwegian)
• [https://www.un.org/special-rep/children-armed-conflict/English/KSP.html Bio on the UN site
• [https://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/statement/14-oct-2005-general-assembly/
• [http://unngosustainability.org/partners-people/board-directors-special-advisors/974-2/
• [https://1drv.ms/w/s!Ahb402U4DumFgXcgULgCVBUyv7Sw